Inktense Pencil Tutorial & Sale of the Week

Okay.....so we know this is really late and we apologize. Better late then never though right!! This is our little tutorial on using Derwent Inktense Pencils. They can be found at Fiber on a Whim for 10% off a 24pk totaling $44.99 Also the book Mixed Media Color is 10% off and shows a lot of different painting techniques including Inktense Pencils. First, and foremost these pencils are an ink based watersoluble pencil. Once you have wet the ink on the fabric, whether by wet brush after application or by damp brush to apply, and it dries it is PERMANENT. You can heat set it if you wish but it is not necessary. This means they can be on a quilt you wish to wash and there won't be any problems.

The first picture shows a plain white fabric being taped down on freezer paper to prevent the pencils from coming through on to your table.

Here everything is finally ready to start playing with the pencils, paintbrushes, paper towel, water, and fabric.

This pic shows you a couple different techniques and the looks they get you. Each has been described in a caption next to the drawing. A damp brush means she wet the brush then dabbed some of the water off on her paper towel before picking up color off the pencil tip or before applying it to the pencil drawing already on the fabric.

This fabric used soy wax and paint to create this initial layer.

The Inktense Pencils were then used to "doodle" inside to create another layer of design.

This dogwood piece started off as a piece of plain white PFD fabric. The whole image was created using the pencils with the damp brush technique. Once it was done it was too strong of a color saturation for the look and it was flipped over. This is the back of the fabric. That is why the colors are so soft and watercolor looking.

The blue and green background is a piece of hand painted fabric once again. You have more control it seems over the pencils on an already painted background. You can see in the technique image above the amount of bleeding on a plain white fabric. The branches were drawn in using the pencils.

Test fabric

Closeup of final piece.

The right fabric didn't present itself for the wall of the church. The back of a printed cotton was chosen, taped off using 1/4" tape, and colored in with the Inktense pencils.

Test fabric

Closeup of final piece.